#i acquired a free subscription off a relative with dubious political views fhdkfjsd

[mclwcc]

new article written by lando for the telegraph dropped! this time about golfing (embarrassing. embarrassing that i’ve even read it but way more embarrassing for him). AND this time it’s actually paywalled, not like the other times. so please please don’t pay money to the telegraph - i will literally 100% always be posting these articles in full with a day or two delay at most. anyways, article under the cut as always, enjoy the read

I cannot wait to get back in the car this weekend. Spa is one of my favourite circuits and it’s always a thrill to race there. I’m also feeling particularly refreshed right now – both mentally and physically – after a brilliant holiday out in Spain and Portugal during F1’s summer break. I spent the first week in Ibiza and Formentera with friends and family, travelling between the islands and generally chilling out. Then in the second I went on a bit of a road trip with my buddies Max Fewtrell and Tom Bale, who are old karting team-mates from back in the day.

I say road trip but the truth is it was a golf trip. We played every morning and then travelled on to our next destination later in the day, going from Alicante to Marbella, Sotogrande to the Algarve, and ending up in Porto. It was utterly glorious. 

Yes, my name is Lando Norris. And yes, I am a golf addict.

I thought I would use my column this week to write a little bit about my relationship with golf, as it seems to have become a thing. I'm always getting asked about it in interviews.

Believe me, no one is more surprised than I am that a game I had never really played until three years ago has become such a big part of my life but somehow it has. I probably have Carlos Sainz to thank for that. 

[picture of lando’s car at spa last year, i assume during quali but it’s just him spraying rain everywhere. fun times last year eh]

It was Carlos who introduced me to golf when we were team-mates at McLaren in 2019. We started at Topgolf in Surrey, near the team’s headquarters in Woking. Then he suggested I have a go out on the course. I was hooked from the word go.

It helped that Max and Tom took it up at the same time. We’re all pretty competitive so that helped to get the juices flowing. And slowly, over time, it’s just become part of my routine. I now play almost every day that I’m able to.

Am I obsessed? Yes, a little. I use an App called TheGrint, which keeps track of every shot. But don’t think it’s an unhealthy obsession (of course, you can become a golf bore but I try very hard not to be one, although I am attempting to get my girlfriend into it, so far unsuccessfully!) It’s my relaxation away from the paddock. A place where I can go to clear my head and forget about apexes and braking points.

For me, that is my primary motivation for doing it: clearing my head. I know there’s always talk of ‘cross-pollination’ when sportspeople take up other sports. There’s a long list of sportsmen and women who have taken up golf, from Gareth Bale to Steph Curry to Michael Jordan. And I guess there are potential benefits in terms of concentration, focus, and ability to deal with adversity. I probably get more frustrated out on the course than I do in the car.

But essentially I do it because I enjoy it. Which is ironic considering the pain it causes me. Right now I’m pretty frustrated with my game. I’m probably not doing enough lessons and I’m not seeing the progress I want to see. The driver is a particular issue (ironically). I don’t think I took it out of the bag for the last three days of the road trip. I do that classic thing of trying to hit it 100 times harder than the rest of my clubs, with predictable results! But I also have a few gremlins going on in my short game.

I actually need to get it a bit under control as I’m playing in the Pro-Am at Wentworth in a couple of weeks – in between the Dutch and Italian races – which is pretty nerve racking. I’ll probably be more nervous doing that than driving in an F1 race. I’ve played in a Pro-Am before, at the Dubai Desert Classic, when I was paired with Bernd Wiesberger. But there will be so many more people at Wentworth, and obviously on home soil a lot of them will know me. I don’t want to embarrass myself, especially as everyone knows how much I love golf!

[lando in dubai on the golf course with like some guy named bernd but not the safety car guy. i’m guessing a golfer? i assume the ppl who r actually into golf r also subscribed to the telegraph and can go there to check, venn diagram just a circle and all that]

I’m not yet sure who I’ll be paired with but there’s plenty of potential for embarrassment. But I’m looking forward to it. It will be an experience, with the crowds lining the fairways and galleries around the greens. 

Maybe I’ll get a few tips off Carlos. I reckon he’s probably the best golfer among us F1 drivers. Him or Lance Stroll. I think they must be off six or seven whereas I’m currently off 14.5, having been down at 12 or 13. Alex Albon is another I’ve played with in Monaco. It’s definitely a growing thing in F1, although I haven’t been able to tempt George Russell yet. 

Going into this weekend I’m comfortable with my fitness, and with how hard I’ve been working this year. For me, it felt important to relax and clear my head over the summer break. Golf helps me to do that. I’ll arrive in Spa fit, ready and re-energised, if a little sunburnt after my golfing road trip in 39C heat.